https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZwi8AFr5eU
We have heard of destination weddings before, haven’t we?
But this Indian couple took their wedding to a whole new level when they decided to get married underwater!!
V Chinnadurai from Tiruvannamalai and S Swetha from Coimbatore, both from the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, got married in an underwater ceremony on 1st February 2021.
The groom Chinnadurai is a scuba diving instructor but Swetha took training for a few days days before the two took the plunge, quite literally.
“I’m a licensed scuba diver with over 12 years of experience. So, when I was discussing ideas for my wedding with my cousin, Aravind, who runs a scuba diving centre on ECR, we zeroed in on this plan. It was a bit difficult to convince my wife initially, but she finally agreed. She underwent training for three days and we were ready for the big plunge, literally,” says Chinnadurai with a smile, and adds, “I believe this was the first underwater Hindu wedding in India. Earlier, a Christian wedding happened underwater in Kerala.”
However, making preparations for such a wedding was an arduous task. Firstly, a specific date for the wedding could not be decided as the dive was depended on the conditions of the ocean. So, the couple did not print the date of the wedding on their cards. Also, designing the wedding attire was difficult because it had to cling to the body of the couple even when they were underwater.
But, the couple overcame all these difficulties to arrange for a once-in-a-lifetime wedding. They decorated the venue underwater with natural flowers and non-plastic items, which were removed as soon as the ceremony was over. While the bride Swetha wore a resplendent red sari, the groom wore a traditional dhoti and their attires were taped with Velcro to ensure that they clung onto the bodies of the couple.
In the ceremony that lasted 45 minutes, the couple exchanged garlands and the traditional thaali (a pendant hanging by the thread) underwater while their relatives waited ashore.
But there was a bigger purpose behind arranging for such an innovative wedding: to spread awareness about pollution in marine waters.
“In the last few years, oceans have become extremely polluted. Now, used masks are adding to the problem. We’ve been creating awareness about this. I thought when we do something unique like this, it would grab people’s attention and we could use that opportunity to talk about marine pollution and the need to do something about it,” Chinnadurai said.
What do you think about this out-of-the-box wedding? Let us know your views in the comments section below.
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